Snare drum



Nov. 4, 1941. w. F. LUDWIG ET AL 2,261,120

SNARE DRUM Filed May 7, 1940 5 S1^1e\.etsbheec l -m L l, b1 E -MN Nov. 4, 1941. w. F. LUDWIG ET Al.

SNARE DRUM Filed My '7, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 NGV-4, 1941 w. F. LUDWIG ET A. 2,261,120

SNARE DRUM Filed May '7, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Nov. 4, 1941 SNARE DRUM William F. Ludwig, oak Park, and Cecil H. strupe, Chicago, Ill.

Application May 7, 1940, Serial No. 333,756

(Cl. Sli-415) 12 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in snare drums, and particularly to a mechanism for selectively throwing into and out of contact with the snare-head of, a drum, either one of two sets of snares of respectively different types, or throwing both sets simultaneously into and out of contact, respectively, with said snare-head.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drum which is equipped with a top hoop constructed to render it substantially inflexible and unyielding to the stresses to which it is subjected in the tensioning of the drum heads, and .which is shaped to render it resonant to an appreciable degree and which affords a shoulder adapted to be struck by the drummer simultaneously with the striking of the drum-head without injury to the drum sticks or said hoop, besides producing a tonal effect due to said resonant quality of said hoop.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in, or readily understood from the following specification.

In the drawings illustrating suitable embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a drum constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary bottom plan View of the same.

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary vertical sectional views of the same, taken on the lines 3-3 and 4--4, respectively, of Fig. 1.

Fig'. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of the same, similar to Fig. 1 showing the operating lever of the snare throw-out mechanism in the position wherein one set of snares is disposed out of contact with the snare-head.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail plan sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are perspective views of parts of the snare throw-out mechanism of the drum. Fig. 10 is a fragmentary detail vertical sectional view of the snare anchoring device of the drum.

Figs. 11 and 12 are detail plan sectional views taken on the lines I I-I I and I2-I 2, respectively, of Fig. l0.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary side elevation of the drum seen from the side opposite to Fig. 1, and illustrates a modified form of construction of the snare anchoring means.

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary plan sectional View taken on the line IIE-I4 of Fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary perspective View of the lower cornerv portion of the drum shown in 'juring the latter. to stiffen the said hoops to such an extent that Figs. 1 and 2 equipped with two sets of snares shown in Figs. 13 and 14.

Fig. 16 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line IIS-I6 of Fig. 13.

Snare drums, as heretofore constructed, have been equippedwith a single set of snares and a mechanism for throwing said set of snares into and out of Contact with the snare head of the drum. A change, for example, from a set of gut snares to a set of wire snares has heretofore required ythe complete removal of the former and substitution of the latter at an appreciable eX- pense of time and energy.

Present day practices in the eld of dance orchestras or bands, and particularly so-called Swing bands, makes it .very desirable to effect quick changes in the tone of snare drums and in the production of novel effects by the drummers. Thus the change of tone due to the use of different types of snares interchangeably is very desirable, as is also the change of tone due to the simultaneous use of two sets of snares of different types, such as the said gut and wire snares, respectively.

Drummers have also become accustomed to manipulating their sticks to strike simultaneously the top drum head and the hoop bordering the same, with the result that because of the usual sharp edges of the said hoop the drum sticks suffer severely and must be replaced far more frequently than heretofore.

The present invention comprehends improvements in the drum structure as set forth hereinabove without yadding weight to the drum or increasing its cost appreciably.

The drum casing is of conventional construction except that the top and bottom hoops I and 2 thereof are provided along their outer edges vwithoutwardly projecting circumferential flanges 3 of appreciable width and are so formed as to provide curved surfaces 4, which in the case of the'lupper hoop, permit the striking of the said curved surface 4 by the drumsticks without in- The said anges 3 serve also the same may be made of thinner metal than the conventional hoop, and thus the additional weight incident to the addition of said flanges 3 is practically eliminated.

As shown in Fig. 2, the drum is equipped with two sets 5 and 6, respectively, of snares of different types, the snares 5 being, for example, gut snares, and the set 6 being wire snares or another type differing from the gut snares. The snares of the set 6 are disposed, preferably, in staggered or alternate relation to the snares of the set 5, so that both sets extend substantially diametrically of the snare head 1 of the drum, although, as shown in Fig. 15, the respective sets of snares 8 and 9 may be disposed upon opposite sides of a diametric plane of the drum parallel therewith.

Mounted upon one side of the drum casing is a sheet metal member I provided with parallel vertical side flanges II and an upper end flange I2 (Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5).

A pair of spaced apart parallel cross pins I3 and I4 are secured at their ends in the side flanges I I and constitute pivots for pairs of links I5 which are pivotally connected at their other ends with a pair of vertically reciprocable plungers I6 and I1, respectively, one of which is shown in detail in Fig. 9.

Each plunger I6 and I1 is channel-shaped and is equipped with an arm I8 constituting an eX- tension of a side flange of the same. Said arm I8 is provided with an opening I9 to receive a pivot member 20 which connects one of the links I5 with the said arm I8. The flanges of the plungers I6 and I1 are provided with spaced apart pairs of openings 2I and 22 to receive cross pins 23 and 24. The pin 23 passes through the lower links I5 which are always parallel with the upper links I5 and when the plungers I6 and I1 are at the upper limit of their movement with the ends of the arms I8 abutting the end flange I2, said links I5 are inclined upwardly and serve to resist dropping of said plungers by gravity or in response to tension exerted by the snares connected with the same.

The plunger actuating means comprises the yoke 25 (Fig. 8), the arms of which are pivotally connected with the side flanges I0 by means of the cross-pin 26. The middle portion of said yoke 25 includes the tongue 21 provided with an opening 28 to receive the pivot member 29 which connects the rocking operating lever 30 between its ends, with said yoke 25 and covers all of the middle portion of the latter.

The lever 30 is equipped at its lower end with an arcuate inwardly projecting flange 3l which is opposed to the lower end of the middle portion of the yoke 25.

Also mounted pivotally upon the cross pin 26 is a pair of opposed sheet metal members 32 provided with openings 33 through which the pin 26 passes and with openings 34 through which pivot members 35 connecting said members 32 with links 36 pass, said links 36 being pivotally connected at their other ends with the outer ends of the upper links I5.

Each of the members 32 is equipped at its upper end with a flat flange 31 and is also equipped along its lower side edge with an L-shaped flange, the portion 38 of which is disposed slightly angularly to the body portion of the member 32 and substantially parallel with a side edge of the flange 31 and is spaced from the latter a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the flange 3l of the lever 30. The wing 39 constituting the outer end portion of the L-shaped flange of the member 32 is substantially parallel with the body portion of said member and constitutes a stop to prevent arcuate movement of the lever 30 when the latter is disposed in a certain position as explained hereinafter.

The plungers I6 and I1 are, respectively, right and left hand, as are also the members 32 which are disposed in opposed relation to each other, as shown in Fig. 1.

Pivotally mounted upon the lower end portions of each of the plungers I6 and I1 is a channeled sheet metal member 40 and 4I, respectively, the side flanges 42 of which are tapered toward the lower ends of said members and which include the upper terminal ears 43 through which the pivot members 24 extend.

The member 40 is equipped at its lower end with a flange 45 which is of such width that one of its side edges projects beyond the left-hand side edge of the member 40 and its other side edge projects beyond the right hand side edge of the member 4I. Said flange 45 is provided with sets of equally spaced apart perforations through which the knotted ends of the snares of the set 5 of the latter are threaded.

The member 4I is equipped at its lower end with a flange 46 which is disposed outwardly of and spaced from the flange 45 and is equipped with a series of parallel equally spaced apart U-shaped fingers 41 which are opposed to the middle series of perforations of the flange 45 and the middle portions of which are opposed to the lower edge of the flange 45. The terminal end portions of the fingers 41 project upwardly behind the lower edge of the flange 45 and are secured to the ends of the snares 6 of the other set of the latter, said last-named snares being thus disposed in staggered relation to the snares of said other set. All of said snares 5 and 6 pass through openings 2a in the lower hoop 2 of the drum.

The members 40 and 4I are equipped with set screws 44 between their ends which bear upon the middle portions of the plungers I6 and I1 and are adjusted in a conventional manner to tension the respective sets of snares.

The drum casing is equipped diametrically opposite the plungers I6 and I1, with a snare anchoring device illustrated in Figs. 10 to 12 inclusive.

The latter comprises a sheet metal shell 48 secured along its top and side edge portions to the drum casing. Said shell is open at the bottom and is provided in the upper end portion of its front wall with a slot 49 through which the terminal end portions of the snares 5 and 6 are adapted to project for digital engagement in securing said end portions to said shell. A bridge member 50 spans the lower end portions of the side walls of the shell 48 and is spaced from the lower end of the front wall thereof both downwardly and inwardly. Said bridge member presents a convex surface 5I which may be provided with spaced apart recesses, one set of which is aligned with the perforations of the flange 45 of the tensioning member 40 and the other set of which is aligned with the lingers 41 of the flange 46 of the tensioning member 4I.

Mounted upon the front wall of the shell 48 by means of the screws 52 is a clamping plate 53 between which and the inner face of the said front wall, end portions of the snares 6 are clamped.

Below the said clamping plate 53 there is mounted upon the inner face of the said front wall of the shell 48, a plate 54 having projections 55 at opposed ends which define a recess 56 through which the last-named snares 6 pass freely, said projections 55 being preferably welded to said front wall and the latter and the said projections equipped with smooth bore openings for the passage of the shanks of set screws 51 which have threaded engagement with the clamping plate 58 which cooperate with the plate 53 to secure end portions of the snares 6 in place.

All of the snares are initially tensioned by the drummer or manufacturer while the plungers I6 and I'I are disposed at the upper limit of their movement and the tensioning members 40 and 4I are practically in contact with the plungers I6 and I1 along the middle or web portions of the latter and the tensioning screws are disposed at substantially the outer limits of their movement. This constitutes conventional practice and requires no further explanation.

In Figs. 13 to 16 inclusive, a modified form of construction is illustrated wherein the tensioning member 40a and 4Ia of the plungers I6 and I1 are equipped with equal flanges 45a. and 46a, respectively, which are of substantially equal width and are disposed side by side, thus necessitating the similar relative positions of the respective sets of snares 8 and 9. The snare set 8 is secured at one end directly to the flange 46a while the set 9 is secured to a sheet metal clamping device 59 connected by cords 60 with the flange 45a, a similar device 59 being also usually provided for the other end of the snare set 9 when the sets of snares are disposed as in Fig. l5.

The shell 48a is equipped with two snare clamping plates 6I and 62 secured to its front wall by screws 63 and 64, said plates being disposed substantially side by side, but at respectively diii'erent elevations and in alignment, respectively, with the said flanges 45a, and 46a.

The operation of the above-described mechanism is as follows:

When the lever 30 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 its arcuate flange 3I Ls engaged along its side edge portions in the recesses between the flanges 3l and 38 of both members 32 so that by pulling the lever arm away from the drum casing, both plungers I6 and I'I will be projected downwardly to throw yboth sets of snares out of contact with the snare head of the drum. Reverse swing of the lever arm will restore both plungers to the upper limit of movement.

From its position as shown in Fig. 1, and while the plungers I6 and I'I are at the lower limit of movement, the lever may be swung to either side to disengage its flange 3| from one of said recesses and projecting said flange farther into the other of said recesses. Said lever may be swung then reversely from the first above-mentioned movement to cause the selected plunger to be moved to the upper limit of its movement and thus throw' the set of snares connected with said plunger into contact with the snare head while the other plunger remains at the lower limit of its movement.

However, it is preferable to restore both plungers to the lower limit of their movement by maintaining the operating lever in the position of Fig. 1 and then swinging said lever laterally on its pivotal axis to disengage its flange 3I from the recess of the member 32 which is connected with the plunger desired to be projected downwardly and then swinging said lever outwardly as mentioned above.

When said lever 39 is in its last-mentioned p0- sition its flange 3| is engaged in the recess of the selected member 32 to the full depth of said recess while the opposite side edge of said flange 3I lies substantially in contact with the wing 39 of the other member 32, thus preventing any lateral swing of said lever 30.

If it be desired to project the other plunger to the lower limit of its movement, the operator must rst restore the downwardly projected plunger to the upper limit of its movement, then swing the lever laterally to the other limit of its lateral movement and then operate to project the other plunger to the lower limit of its movement.

Whenever it is desired to project both plungers I6 and I'I to the lower limit of their movement, the lever 30 will be positioned as in Fig. l and operated as first above described.

When both sets of snares are in contact with the snare head the tone of the drum will differ from that which is produced when only one set of said snares is in contact with said snare head.

The motion of the plungers I6 and II resulting from manipulations of the lever 3U, as above described, is due to the fact that the members 32 are connected by means of the links I5 with the outer ends of the arms I 8 of said plungers so that by rocking the lever 30 away from and toward the drum casing on the axis of pivot members 36, the links I5 act as connecting rods to transform the arcuate motion of the members 32 into longitudinal movements of the plungers I6 and I1.

The lower pair of links I5 connecting each of the plungers I6 and I 'I with the channeled member I0 is subjected to pressure at the outer extremities thereof when the plungers I6 and I1 are disposed at the upper limits of their movement due to the fact that the tension of the set of snares associated with said plunger is exerted in a direction substantially perpendicularly to the direction of movement of said plunger and with respect to this direction of tension, the lower Alinks I5 are so disposed that they will tend to swing farther upwardly at their outer ends and thus move the plunger beyond the xed limit of itsI movement.

During reciprocation of the plungers I6 and Il their movement from the upper to lower limit is initially downward and outward and then inward, the inward movement serving to slack snares at the same time that they are moved out of contact with the snare head.

The top hoop of the drum not only adapts the instrument to the simultaneous striking thereof with the striking of the drum head, without injury to the drum sticks and the hoop, but the addition of the outwardly projecting upper flange of said hoop renders the same resonant with a bell-like tone which produces a novel tonal effect which is not produced by said top hoops of the conventional type. This tonal effect is not very pronounced, but is of sufficient degree to be instantly appreciated. It will be apparent that said ange is similar to the time of the mouth of a bell.

We claim as our invention:

l.. In a snare drum, a plurality of sets of snares anchored at one end at one side of a drum casing and extending substantially diametrically over the snare-head of the drum, a device for each set of said snares connected with the latter and mounted upon the opposite side of said casing and each cperable to throw the set of snares into and out of contact with said snare-head. and a mechanism for actuating said devices in unison or each independently of each other and including a single actuating lever movable at will to engage a selected one of said; devices independently of the remainder thereof or to a position wherein the same will actuate the several devices in unison.

2. In a snare drum, a plurality of sets of snares anchored at one end at one side of a drum casing and extending substantially* diametrically over the snare-head of the drum, a device for each set of said snares connected with the latter and mounted upon the opposite side of said casing, each of said devices operable to throw the snares connected therewith into and out of contact with the snare-head, and a mechanism for actuating said devices, said mechanism including a single lever operable to connect the same with a selected one of said devices for actuating the same independently of the remainder thereof.

3. In a snare drum equipped with a plurality of sets of snares, a mechanism or operating each set of snares independently of the remainder thereof comprising a member for and connected with one end of each respective set of snares and operable to throw the same into and out of contact with the snare head of the drum, an actuating device for said several members operatively associated therewith, and a single manually operable actuating lever mounted upon said device and movable to disassociate said device from all except a selected one of said members for efiecting actuation of the latter independently of the remainder of said members.

4. A mechanism of the type specied including a pair of snare actuating plungers, a single operating lever common to both thereof, a device associated with each of the respective plungers and said lever and engageable simultaneously and individually with said respective plungers for actuating both plungers simultaneously or one thereof selectively and independently of the other, and projections on said devices arranged to prevent disengagement of the lever from the l selected one of said plungers engaged with said lever when the said plunger is disposed below the upper limit of its movement.

5. In a snare drum, two sets of snares, each anchored at one end to the drum casing, a pair of reciprocable plungers mounted upon the diametrically opposite side of the drum casing from the points of anchorage o said sets of snares and connected respectively with the other ends of the same, a member pivotally mounted upon the last-mentioned side of the said casing on an axis transverse to the direction of movement of said plungers, an actuating lever, said member mounted upon the latter, said lever and said plungers equipped with interengageable formations and said lever being movable relatively to said member to cause either one of said plungers to be engaged selectively with said lever independently of the other thereof and to cause both said plungers to be engaged with said lever.

6. In a snare drum, a pair of snare tensioning devices mounted upon one side of the drum casing, a pair of sets of snares connected respectively with said respective devices at one end and anchored at their other ends to the drum casing, a single actuating device common to both said tensioning devices, and means mounted movably upon said actuating device and operable to engage operatively and selectively either one of the tensioning devices with said actuating device independently of the other set and to so engage both tensioning devices simultaneously with said actuating device` 7. In a snare drum, a pairof snare tensioning devices mounted upon one side of the drum casing, a pair of sets of snares connected respectively with said respective devices at one end and anchored at their other ends to the drum casing, a single actuating device common to both said tensioning devices, and an actuating lever for said actuating device movably mounted upon the latter, said lever and said tensioning devices equipped with interengageable means whereby upon moving said lever relatively to said actuating device in one direction, one of said tensioning devices will be operatively associated with said actuating device independently of the other tensioning device and by moving said lever to a predetermined position on said actuating device, both said tensioning devices will be operatively associated with said actuating device.

8. In a snare drum, a pair of independently operable snare tensioning devices, two sets of snares connected respectively to said respective tensioning devices, a single member for actuating both said tensioning devices, actuating means movably mounted upon said member, said means and said tensioning devices being equipped with interengageable formation engageable selectively with said actuating means by moving the latter to different positions on said member for actuating either on'e of said tensioning devices independently of the other thereof and actuating both thereof simultaneously.

9. In a snare drum, a pair of independently operable snare tensioning devices, two sets of snares connected respectively to said respective tensioning devices, a single member for actuating both said tensioning devices, and means on said member engageable selectively with either on`e or simultaneously with both said tensioning devices for operatively engaging the same with said member.

l0. In a snare drum, a plurality of snare tensioning devices, a separate set of snares for each of said devices and connected therewith, a single actuating means common to all of said tensioning devices, the latter and said member equipped with interengageable formations, said means being movable to engage any selected one of said devices for actuating the same independently of the remainder thereof and to engage more than one of said devices simultaneously for actuation thereof in unison.

11. In a snare drum, a pair of parallel reciprocable plungers mounted upon the drum casing, a set of snares for and connected with said respective plungers, a lever pivotally mounted upon the drum casing, a means mounted movably upon said lever, said means and said plungers equipped with interengageable formations for operatively connecting either one of said plungers with said lever for actuation by the same independently of the other plunger and for operatively engaging both said plungers with said lever for simultaneous action by the latter.

12. In a snare drum, a pair of independently operable snare tensioning plungers, a set of snares of a selected type connected with one of said plungers, a set of snares of a different type connected with the other of said plungers, and lever means connected with the drum casing and said plungers and operable to tension any selected one of said sets of snares independently of the other and to tension both said sets in unison.

WILLIAM F. LUDWIG` CECIL H. STRUPE. 

